The Social

Order
Eribal, Kathleen
Intas, Rose Antoniette

GROUP 2
Lasap, Kayla Celine
Torda, Vanessa Jayniel
Fadrigo, Maria Cindy

The Human Person Central

to the Social Order
All social life is an expression of its
unmistakable protagonist: the human person.
The Church has many times, and in many
ways, been the authoritative advocate of this
understanding, recognizing and affirming the
centrality of the human person in very sector
and expression of society. The human person
must always remain, its subject, foundation

The origin of social life is, therefore, found

in the human person, and society cannot
refuse to recognize its active and
responsible subject; every expression of
society must be directed towards the
human person. (CSDC 106)

Society Founded on Truth

Men and women have the specific
duty to always move towards the
truth, to respect it, and bear
responsible witness to it. Living in the
truth has special significance in social
relationships.

 When the coexistence of human beings

within a community is founded on truth, it is
ordered and fruitful, and it corresponds to
their dignity as persons. The more people
and social groups strive to resolve social
problems according to the truth, the more
they distance themselves from abuses and
act in accordance with the objective

Solidarity
It is a social principle that consist in the firm and
persevering determination to commit oneself to
the common good; that is to say, to the good of
all and of each individual (SRS 8).
Pope Leo XIII uses the term friendship; Pope
Pius XI refers to it with the equally meaningful
term, social charity; Pope Paul VI, expanding
the concept to cover the many modern aspects of
the social question, speaks of a civilization of
love (cf. RN 25; QA 3; Homily for the Closing of

Concrete Indications (SRS 39):

Each one recognizes one another as persons. Solidarity
helps us to see the other other, whether a person,
people or nation, not just as some kind of instrument,
with a work capacity and physical strength to be
exploited at low cost and then discarded when no longer
useful, but as our neighbor, a helper (cf. Gn 2:18-20)
to be made a sharer, on a par with ourselves, in the
banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God.
Those who are more influential, because they have a
greater share of goods and common services, should
feel responsible for the weaker and be ready to share

 Those who are weaker, for their part, in

the same spirit of solidarity, should not
adopt a purely passive attitude or one
that is destructive of the social fabric, but,
while claiming their legitimate rights,
should do what they can for the good of
all.
The intermediate groups, in their turn,
should not selfishly insist on their
particular interests, but respect the

Subsidiarity
The principle of subsidiarity indicates that
a community of a higher order should not
interfere in the internal life of a community
of a lower order, depriving the latter of its
functions, but rather should support it in
case of need and help to coordinate its
activities of the rest of the society, always
with a view to the common good (CA 48;

God has not willed to reserve to Himself

all exercise of power. He entrusts to every
creature the functions it is capable of
performing, according to the capacities of
its own nature. This mode of governance
ought to be followed in social life. The
way God acts in governing the world,
which bears witness to such great regard
for human freedom, should inspire the
wisdom of those who govern human

The principle of subsidiarity is

*Opposed to all forms of collectivism
*Sets limits for state intervention;
*Aims at harmonizing the relationships
between individuals and societies; and
*Tends toward the establishment of true
international order (CSDC 134;CCC 1883- 1885)

The principle of subsidiarity is indicated

as a most important principle of "social
philosophy". "Just as it gravely wrong to take
from individuals what they can accomplish by
their own initiative and industry and give it to
the community, so also it is an injustice, and at
the same time, a grave evil and distrurbance of
right order, to assign to a greater and higher
association what lesser and subordinate
organizations can do. For every social activity
ought, of its very nature, to furnish help to the
members of the body social, and never destroy

On the basis of this principle, all societies of a

superior order must adopt attitudes of help
(subsidium) therefore, of support,
promotion, development with respect to
lower-order societies.
Subsidiarity in two senses:
Positive Sense: economic, institutional or
juridical assistance offered to lesser social entities,
Negative Sense: the State is required to refrain
from anything that would, de facto, restrict the
existential space of the smaller essential cells of
society. Their initiative, freedom, and responsibility
must not be supplanted.

Concrete Indications
The principle of subsidiarity protects people from abuses by
higher-level social authority and calls on these same
authorities to help individuals and intermediate groups to
fulfill their duties.
This principle is imperative because every person, family
and intermediate group has something original to offer to
the community.
Experience shows that the denial of subsidiarity, or its
limitation in the name of an alleged democratization o
equality of all members of society, limits, and sometimes
even destroys, the spirit of freedom and initiative. (CSDC

For the principle of subsidiarity to be put into

practice, there is a corresponding need for:

Respect and effective promotion of the human

person and the family;
Ever greater appreciation of associations and
intermediate organizations in their fundamental
choices and in those that cannot be delegated to or
exercised by others;
The encouragement of private initiative so that
every social entity remains at the service of the
common good, each with its own distinctive

 The presence of pluralism in society and due

representation of its vital components;

Safeguarding human rights and rights of minorities;
Bringing about bureaucratic and administrative
decentralization;
Striking a balance between the public and private
spheres, with the resulting recognition of the social
function of the private
Appropriate methods for making citizens more
responsible in actively being a part of the political and
social reality of their country. (CSDC 187)

Participation
The characteristic implication of subsidiarity is
participation:
It is expressed essentially in a series of activities by
means of which the citizen, either as an individual or in
association with others, whether directly or through
representation, contributes to the cultural, economic,
political and social life of the civil community to which
s/he belong.
Participation is a duty to be fulfilled consciously by all,

 All citizens have the right to participate in the life of

their community: this is a conviction which is generally
shared today. But this right means nothing when
the democratic process breaks down because of
corruption and favoritism, which only obstruct
legitimate sharing in the exercise of power but
also prevent people from benefitting equally
from community assets and services, to which
everyone has a right (1999 World Day of Peace
Message 6). (CSDC 143)
The dignity of the human person involves the right to
take an active part in public affairs and to contribute
ones part to the common good of the citizens. (PT 26)

The Common Good

The common good is to be understood
as the sum total of social conditions
which allow people, either as groups or
as individuals, to reach their fulfillment
more fully and more easily(GS 26).

Three Essential Elements:

1. Respect for the person as such. In the name of
the common good, public authorities are bound to
respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the
human person.
2. Social well being and development of the
group itself. Certainly, it is the proper function a=of
authority to make accessible to each what is needed to
lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work,
education and culture, suitable information, the right to
establish a family, and so on.

3. Peace, that is the stability and security of

a just order.
It presupposes that authority should ensure, by
morally acceptable means, the security of society
and its members. It is the basis of the right to
legitimate personal and collective defense. (CCC
1906-1909)

Considering the common good on the national level,

the following points are relevant and should not be
overlooked:

To provide employment to as many workers as

possible;
To take care of the less privileged groups that
may arise even among the workers themselves;
To maintain a balance between wages and
prices;

 To make accessible the goods and services for a better life

to as many persons as possible;

To eliminate or to keep within bounds the inequalities that
exist between different sectors of the economy, that is,
between agriculture, industry and services;
To balance properly any increases in output with advances
in services provided to citizens, especially by public
authority;
To adjust, as far as possible, the means of production to
the progress of science and technology;
To ensure that the advantages of a more humane way of
existence do not merely subserve the present generation
but have regard for future generations as well.

The End.